


Popping in to help

by Amsel



Category: Sea Patrol, The Tomorrow People (1992)
Genre: AU, Handwaving technlogy, I hated the ending of S5E12
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 09:59:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5662150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amsel/pseuds/Amsel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim Roth and Swain are trapped on a boat with a dirty bomb set to go off. Just as well the Tomorrow People are in the best position to help. Which leaves some explaining to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Running](https://archiveofourown.org/works/160556) by [wildforce71](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildforce71/pseuds/wildforce71). 



> I came across Sea Patrol last December, and binge-watched. And I hated the ending, because I'm a big softie and can't stand unhappy endings, however much they might make narrative sense. So - I took refuge in fanfiction, where I came across a wonderful fic named "Running", by WIldforce71.  
> I got inspired, and this is the result...

All binos were trained on the small pleasure boat. The silence was so tense Mike could almost hear the RO’s counterpart sign off the radio. And then the commotion down below, which was explained when Charge came barreling up to share the news about Madeleine Cruise. 

“She did it all!” he huffed, banging her computer case. “And she shot Dutchy!”

“Right,” Mike said, trying to work out his course of action. “Get her locked up, and get on to NavCom, and – “

“I can block the signal!” Ro shouted, and ripped the computer out of his hands.

Mike stopped himself from shouting angrily, and decided to listen.

“If that woman started it, it will travel off her computer, and I can stop it!” Ro muttered, feverishly tapping through the programs on the netbook.

“You can?” Kate asked, voice squeaky.

“Get on it!” Mike ordered, watching over his shoulder as Ro searched through it.

Robert seemed to be in his own world, looking intent but curiously absent at the same time. His fingers were calm on the keyboard.

“What are you doing?” Charge pressed out. 

Robert’s fingers suddenly exploded into action, opening up windows, and suddenly finding a new window with graphs and bars going up and down. He grinned, delightedly. 

“I’ve got it! What now?” he asked loudly, fingers again still on the keyboard.

“What do you mean, what now?” Kate asked, voice ratcheting up in distress.

“What?” Robert’s head whipped round to look at her, startled. “Oh. Sorry, X, I wasn’t talking to you,”

He looked back at the screen. “One graph with horizontal bars, going up and down, that’s the signal strength. How do I get into the menu to stop it transmitting at all? Aha, trying that,” he went on, again utterly oblivious to the people on the bridge. His fingers were once again moving over the keyboard, and his voice went into a mumble and then stopped. 

“Kate,” Mike said gently. His XO swallowed, nodded.

“Thank you Ro. See what you can do,” she said, her voice hardly wobbling at all, turning back to the ship out on the water. 

“Captain Roth, has the timer on the bomb stopped?” Ro asked a moment later over the radio.

“Yeah, it has. How did you know?” he answered a moment later.

“Good, I’ll keep trying to block it from here,” Ro said in a final voice.

“Good work, Ro,” Mike managed, feeling a weight drop off his shoulders.

“Well, that’s to be seen,” Ro answered distractedly. “I can only block it and not stop it. And now it’s started again,”

“What?” Mike shouted.

“Hammersley, Captain Roth. The timer just started countdown again,” the crackly voice came a moment later.

“Ro, do something?” Charge shouted, shouldering into him.

“I am,” Ro said irritated. He was tapping desperately at the keyboard. “I can –“ he stopped. “I need to boost the signal, the closer I can be to the actual bomb, the better. Then I can –“

“You are not going over there. Do the best you can from the bridge,” Mike ordered.

“I –“ Ro looked around, at the sudden tense little group around him, then grabbed the notebook into his arms. “I can do it from ComCen. The signal boost will be better,” he said, hastening off the bridge. “Alone!” he shouted, when Charge seemed set to follow.

“Hammersley, Swain,” the radio crackled. “The timer stopped again,” the relief was palpable in his voice.

“How are you on disabling it?” the XO asked.

“At the moment we are trying to minimize damage in case it does blow,” Swain answered.

“Swain, this is the captain. What do you mean, minimize,”

“Captain, Jim Roth. Mike, we’re cutting the Caesium free,”

“Leave yourselves time to get out,” Mike ground out. “That’s an order,”

“Yes, sir,” Swain answered. “Swain out,”

They resumed their watch over the bay.


	2. Swain

“How are you getting on, mate?” Jim asked.

“Slowly. I keep thinking that bloody timer is going to start again,” Swain answered. He had to concentrate on keeping his hands steady.

“It has,” Jim answered calmly.

“Shit,” Swain said. “Swain, Hammersely,” 

There was a sizzling crackle. Swain had the odd impression it came from behind him, and put a hand to his twoway to adjust it. 

“The timer started again.”

“Swain, Ro. I’m on it,” 

The voice came from the radio, but also behind them. Swain whipped around, and so did Jim. There was the RO, in a T-Shirt, no kit at all, holding a small netbook open in his hands.

“Hey,” he said. “Don’t mind me, get on with defusing that thing,” 

“What?” Jim started. There was another crackle, and where nothing had been now stood a rather pudgy man with dark hair.

“This is what you told me to do,” Robert said to him. “It started again. What now?”

“Yes, I see. How about,” and then his voice dropped away, but both he and Robert moved over to the bomb to look at the timer.

“Oi!” Jim shouted. 

“I’m so sorry, am I in your way?” the man asked politely.

For the first time, Swain realized that the man’s voice was almost comically polished British.

“Where did you come from?” Swain asked weakly.

“How about you keep on cutting while I make introductions?” Ro said.

Swain glanced back down at the bomb and his abandoned work. He set to. So did Jim. 

“We are listening,” Jim said grimly, methodically moving down the wires.

“This is Kevin. He’s a friend of mine. Oh, brilliant, that worked. I knew you could do it, Kev. And this is Lisa and this Amy, and Megabyte will be along in a minute,”

“Hello,” two feminine voices chorused.

When Swain looked up this time, he was confronted by two black women smiling down at him. Jim gave him an incredulous look. 

“Sorry, got to go, the boss is looking for me,” Ro said quickly and vanished.

“What?” Swain managed.

“He’s gone to his boat. Apparently, yes, this boss person went to his office to find him, and as he wasn’t there, now he is bellowing, and Adam’s pretending to have been to the loo,” the first woman said, in a thick British accent.

“He’s getting shouted at for leaving his post,” the second woman added, with a distinct American drawl.

“That is so unfair!” another female voice added. 

Jim and Swain swung around again. This woman was blond and pretty and also English, and she was accompanied by a smelly and clearly very old dog, who thumped his tail once on the ground before coming over to rub in an affectionate sort of way at the pudgy man and the first woman.

“This is Jade,” Kevin said. He was looking down at the timer, which was frozen on 23. Seeing it made Swain break out in a sweat.

“My wires are loose,” Jim reported. 

“Five more to go,” Swain said tersely. 

Jim moved the case of radioactive material away. Swain cut through the last ones.

“Best drop those over board,” Lisa said. “Ami, fancy a dip?” 

Swain grabbed the cases and ran for the outside, dropping them into the water. He paused to wave to the Hammersley, then rushed back inside, his radio crackling with shouting voices. 

“Timer’s gone off again,” Kevin said. 

Swain looked around. Ami was gone.

“Can Adam get over here again with the netbook?” a male voice asked. 

A tall redheaded American had appeared, frowning at the last of the bomb.

“No. Not necessary, if these two run for the little boat and set off,” Jade said, tugging at the arm of Captain Roth.

“But,” he managed.

“Can we stop it again?” Ro asked, appearing again next to the redheaded man.

“No. Get going. The radioactive material is gone, you have fifteen seconds to do the same,” Lisa said. “Run!”

Swain turned and ran for the boat. Jim was behind him. They scrambled into the tinny, the motor came on, and then Swain floored it. Then there was a bang, and searing heat, and he was catapulted forward, and then thankfully time went away.


	3. Swain

Somebody peeled up his eyelid. 

“Don’t do that, baby, Daddy’s trying to sleep,” he muttered.

“Sorry, Petty Officer, I’m afraid it’s not your daughter. You’re in hospital,” somebody said above him.

He opened his eyes fully, wincing. It was indeed a doctor. 

“Do you feel up to some questions?” the doctor asked.

Swain nodded, but then – “Where’s Jim? Captain Roth?” he demanded.

“Captain Roth is fine. Concussion, like yourself, a few burns, again much like yourself, and a broken leg from hitting the water at an awkward angle. Unlike yourself,”

Swain took stock. For the first time he realized the back of his legs hurt, and his left arm tingled. And he had a splitting headache.

“Can I get an icepack? My head is killing me,” he mumbled.

“We can do a bit more than that, but of course. Now, just a couple of tests, you know the drill…”

“What about RO and the others?” Swain asked once the battery of tests was done. A nurse had brought him an icepack, and the doctor was jotting notes on the chart.

“I’m sorry, I don’t follow,” the doctor said, glancing at his watch and writing the time down. 

“On the boat, did they get off ok?”

“It is my understanding that you and Captain Roth were alone on a boat, and were able to escape the subsequent explosion,” the doctor soothed, his face slightly creased.

“But, the others? Ro was there, I was talking to him, about stopping the timer, and those women, Amy, and oh, the dog –“

“Mhm. Everything is alright. No dogs died in the explosion,” the doctor soothed. “I think a little something to help you sleep,”

“I’m not confused,” Swain said sharply.

“No, that’s fine. I’ll ask how you’re crew is doing, and about the dog,” the doctor said. He injected something into the drip.

“Ro. Is Ro alright?” 

“Ro is the dog? I’ll ask,”

“No, Ro is, he’s the radio..” Swain fell asleep.

When he next woke up, Chloe was sleeping on his chest and Sally was sitting on a chair beside him, crying.

It was another day before anybody from the Hammersley came to see him. 

“Not our fault. We weren’t allowed in because at first you were asleep, then it was family and then it was security wonks,” Ro said grumpily. “The only reason I am here now is because the doctor said you were in a state about me when you woke up the first time,”

“How did you get off?” Swain asked. “You weren’t in the tinny. And the dog? Poor thing. And all those people.”

“I was talking to you from the Hammersley,” Ro said, looking irritated.

“Talking to us? You weren’t there? Didn’t you pop in?” Swain asked uncertainly.

Ro grinned at him. “And then pop right back out again? Yeah, mate. No, I was just intermittently able to stop the timer, but at least it gave you time to separate the two cases and tip them overboard. You’re being tipped for a Congressional medal,”

“Really? What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Anything for you? No medal nod?”

“Commendation in my file. Why?”

“Why? Ro, you were there! And all those others, and the dog,”

“What others?”

“The others! Did they get away? And the dog?”

“Jesse is fine. He’s just old and a little smelly, but that’s the thing about dogs,”

“Oh, good,” Swain said. He lay back and sighed. “Weird. I could have sworn you were there,”

“In a sense, I suppose I was,” Ro said, then twiddled his cap, knocked it on his knee a couple of times and swung up. “Anyway. I’d best be off. Charge wants to see you,”

“Thanks for coming, Ro,” Swain said.

Ro smiled at him and left. It was so momentous that Swain let him go. 

His next visitors, coming not half an hour later, were indeed Charge and the captain.

“It’s good to see you awake,” Flynn said.

“Yeah, mate, I really thought you wouldn’t make it,” Andy added. 

“What exactly happened? I’m ok until I threw those cases over board, then it all goes a bit hazy,”

“Well, as far as we can make out, you dropped the Caesium overboard, then went back in, and about ten seconds later came flying out along with Jim and jumped into the tinny, floored the motor and nearly got caught in the explosion,” the boss told him. “It was the most finely judged bit of insane bravery I have ever had the misfortune to watch,”

“Sorry,” Swain grinned. 

“Don’t be,” Andy interrupted. “Without you, a quarter of Australia would be uninhabitable, all because of that damn bitch Cruise,”

“Charge,” Flynn admonished. He was smiling.

“Did you really bawl out Ro because he had been to the loo?” Swain asked.

“Loo? Since when do you call it a loo? And how do you know about that?” Charge asked, surprised. 

“Ami told me. Called it a loo. Did you really bawl him out?”

“Bawl him out? And who is Ami?”

“The British girl. Not the one with the dog, but the other. Christ my head hurts,”

“Good lord, Swain. You still sound a little out of it. At least it isn’t as bad as Jim,” Flynn told him. “He’s been telling the doctors   
about a fat English man called Kevin helping stop the timer,”

“Right,” Swain managed, and hid his eyes under his hand. “Where is he? Which room? I should go and see him,”

“Three doors along, this corridor,” Charge told him.

“But don’t overdo it,” the captain added.

“And what else has been happening,” Swain asked.

“Oh, Dutchy is on the mend, he’s in the ward downstairs,” Charge added.

“Wait, Dutchy? What happened to Dutchy?” Swain asked.

“Oh. Yeah. Dutchy confronted Madeleine Cruise, and got shot for his troubles. But it meant we had the traitor, and her netbook, and Ro was able to halt the signal,”

“On 23. It was 23 seconds. And Ro asked if we could stop it again, and Lisa told us to run,”

“Ro? Mate, are you feeling ok?”

“Headache, but apart from that, I’m fine,”

“Right. Well, I suppose getting blown up leads to a few weird memories,”

“What? Oh. Someone called Lisa wasn’t there?”

“No, mate. It was just you and Captain Roth on that boat. And RO was in radio contact,” Flynn said gently.

“Right,” Swain rubbed his head. “You were telling me about Dutchy,”

“Yeah. He was operated on and is doing well,”

“And Madeleine Cruise?”

“Vanished into the tender clutches of the intelligence services, with a strongly worded piece of advice from NavCom to clean   
their house,” Flynn said grimly.

“Oh. Good,” Swain said numbly.

The door of his room opened. “Daaaddddyyyyyy!” Chloe screamed.

“Hello baby!” Swain said, struggling upward and trying not to wince as a small bullet barreled into his side and then determinedly scrambled up the side, pulling at his blanket and his hospital gown. He grabbed her, and Charge pulled her into his arms, swung her up and over, making her shriek in glee, and then deposited her next to him, from where she crawled up to hug him enthusiastically around the neck.

“Chloe! Knock on the doors first and wait for an answer!” Sally admonished. 

Swain put out his hand toward her, feeling better already.

“Well. We’ll be off, I think,” Charge said with a huge smile. “You get well, mate. You owe me such a lot of beer for making me worry,” 

“Yeah. I hope to see you on your feet soon. Good to see you, Sally,”

Sally smiled a little desperately, but nodded, before grabbing his hand and squeezing it. Swain relaxed. His headache was dissolving, he was cuddling his daughter, and his wife was holding his hand. It couldn’t get much better than that.

Another day later and the doctor was talking about discharging him into the care of his family the next morning. He carefully walked down the corridor to the captain’s room and knocked gently on the open door. Jim Roth was lying in bed, broken leg elevated on a couple of cushions, a huge smile on his face. 

“Swain! Come on in. I heard you were imprisoned along here with me,”

“Good to see you looking so well. How’s the leg?”

“It hurts. How’s the head?”

“It aches,”

“Hah, isn’t that right. Actually, glad you are here, finally. I’ve hit mine pretty hard too. The doctors are thinking there might be some sort of consecutive damage from the last time. I was having hallucinations about the time we were defusing the ruddy bomb,”

“So did I. Apparently I kept asking about some dog. And I thought Ro was there with us,”

“Christ, so did I,” Jim laughed a little and shifted, then groaned. “Ouch. Hell. This sucks. Just when a man wants to be up and dancing, too,”

“You want to dance?” 

“I happen to be newly engaged, so yes, I want to dance,” Jim’s face turned even more happy than before.

“Oh, so it’s not pethidine making you happy, then,” Swain grinned. “The X said yes?”

“Yes, she made me one happy man. And before you start, your RO has already been in here and threatened all sorts of horrific things if I dare to make her unhappy,”

“Ro? Really?”

“It was rather like being attacked by a chicken,”

“Did you cow him into silence?” Swain asked, laughing.

“Strangely, no. He’s a cold one. He was not impressed by me at all. Actually, he never has. If I was a little more vain, I’ be really hurt,”

Swain laughed and relaxed onto the visitor chair, glad to be sitting again.

“On a more serious note, mate, thank you,” Jim said.

“For what?”

“Staying. And cutting away at those damn wires on the other side. If that thing had gone up,”

“Yeah. I hear you. And thanks from me, for knowing how to separate those two,” Swain said.

There was a comfortable pause. 

“Do you remember the stuff that happened at all?” Swain asked after a moment. “I’m clear up until the motor cut out and we   
were cutting the wires and Ro asked us over the radio if the timer had stopped,”

“Really? That’s the part where my hallucinations started,” Jim answered.

Swain looked at him, suddenly cold. “Mine, too. I thought Ro turned up, and an English man named Kevin,”

“You remember Kevin?” Jim said, struggling up into a sitting position. “And there were two women, Lisa and Ami,”

“And a younger woman with a smelly old dog,” Swain added.

“I also remember a ginger,” Jim said thoughtfully.

“Fuck,” Swain put his head in his hands.

“A shared hallucination? Jim offered.

“Not likely, is it?”

“More likely than teleporting people? I think I need another word with your RO,”

“I am going to talk to the crew. Somebody must have noticed if he had suddenly vanished,”

“Bawled at for being on the loo,” Jim said.

“What?”

“That was it, wasn’t it? He vanished because somebody had noticed, -“

“And Ami told us he was pretending to be on the loo,”

“So. What do we do now?”

“Ask around,” Swain said.

“And what then? What do we do with our information?”

Swain sighed. “I don’t know. What should we do?”

“Quite frankly, and just having been played for a patsy by my very own superior officer in the intelligence services, I vote we find out to our satisfaction and then keep our mouths shut about it,” Jim said darkly.

“Christ. I forgot about that part. What happens to you now?”

“At the moment, I’m suspended with full pay, pending investigation,”

“You don’t sound bitter,”

“I’m not. At the moment, I really don’t care. Kate thinks I’m an adrenaline junkie, and normally I would be up and raring to go, but somehow – I just want to sit back and relax. I’ve been looking at my finances, seeing if there is enough for a deposit for a house with a garden,” he stared at the ceiling, a silly grin on his face.

“A garden? I can’t really see the X doing any weeding or growing veggies,” Swain said.

“Space for swings. And one of those playhouses. And space for bikes and prams and all,”

Swain had to grin. “What does the X say to all that?”

“Kate wants kids. And an active career,”

“Active career?”

“Yeah. What do you think, after my years in the Special Forces, am I equipped for full-time carer?”

Swain had to grin. “From reports, and from when I’m in sole charge, no, mate,”

Jim started laughing, ending in a sort of cough and wheeze. “Oh, my ribs,”

“I’d better go before we break them. I’ll go see Dutchy. I think I’ve got another ten minutes of freedom before they realise I’m AWOL and come to catch me,”

“Thanks for coming, mate,” Jim said, still smiling.

Swain made his careful way down the corridor, and took the lift when his legs baulked at the stairs. Dutchy was lying in a general ward, looking pale and fed-up. From habit, Swain unhooked the chart to glance through it.

“Hey mate, how’re you doing?” 

“Swain! Am I glad to see you. For a time, I thought you were dead,”

“No, apparently singed but running just before the blast. Captain Roth broke his leg, and we both have first degree burns peppered over, but apart from that, we survived. Thanks to you and Ro,”

“Me? What did I do?”

“Getting that woman in custody, and giving Ro access to the computer,”

“Yeah. I suppose,” Dutchy sounded tired.

“She hoodwinked us all. The only one who was even a little suspicious was you, Dutchy,”

“Yeah, and I thought it was sexual, like a tool,”

“She was pretty hot,”

Dutchy closed his eyes. His face was lined. Swain pursed his lips and pulled a chair closer gratefully to sit. He laid the clinical notes on the bed.

“So, maybe you can help me with something,” he said.

“I can try,” Dutchy muttered.

“Jim and me are both experiencing memory problems. To put it plainly, -“

Dutchy opened his eyes again, a slightly malicious smile appearing on his face. “Captain Roth hallucinated a fat English bloke, right?”

“Er. Yeah. I kept asking for Ro and a dog, it seems. Can you tell me what was happening over on Hammersely while we were cutting that shit free?”

“Well, let’s see. I went and wrestled with the bitch, she shot me, Charge helped get her under control, then I sort of sat on the deck and bled while he went haring off with her computer. And then I got bandaged up and put in the wardroom to wait on the ambos. So I’m not really the best to ask,” Dutchy said.

“Oh. No shouting on the corridors, running people, that sort of thing?”

“Oh. Nothing apart from the boss having a right go at Ro,” Dutchy said. 

“Having a go at Ro? Why?” Swain asked, trying to seem casually interested.

“Came down to see him in the ComCen, and Robert wasn’t there. He was in the corridor next to the wardroom. With the computer. He said he’d been to the head, and the boss just lost it,”

“What did Ro say to that?”

“Well, the boss shouted a bit, and then Ro asked him to stop shouting because the timer had gone off again and he needed to do something about it,”

“Christ,”

“Yeah. I actually got up and went out at that point, which I shouldn’t have because I collapsed and the boss had to put me back into bed, and Ro went into the ComCen and shut the door,”

“How did that go down?” Swain asked. 

“No idea. First came the blast, then came the ambos and I’ve been here ever since,”

“Right. Did we travel together?”

“We were assessed at the same time. They brought us in in three separate vehicles, and dumped us out on the emergency floor, and then it’s a little hazy. I saw you through the throng now and again, but that’s it. Sorry I’m not more help,”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve been trying to get a full picture from everybody, but it’s difficult since almost nobody has been by,”

“You only regained consciousness two days ago. Bird and 2Dads said no one was allowed to see you, anyway,”

“Ro came. Did he see you too? And Charge and the boss. That’s it. I’ve been to see Captain Roth, and now you,”

“Ro was here with 2Dads the first time. I don’t know. He’s not really that social when we aren’t in a group. Especially when I said I wanted a word about the blow-up in the corridor later,”

“You’re on sick leave and want to start your Buffer duties lying flat in a hospital bed?”  
Dutchy sighed again. “I thought it might be a jokey way to connect with him, but he took it the wrong way,”

“He usually does. We’ll tackle him together, he actually listens to me now and again,”

Dutchy patted him on the arm. “Thanks, but I should really get to grips with our RO. It’s supposed to be my job. Although I’d be grateful for any pointers,”

“Well, I’ve learned over the years that when Robert tells you a complicated and totally unlikely story and asks you to believe it, you should over the less complicated and straightforward hypothesis offered by other people oh!” he trailed off.

“Swain? Swain, mate, are you ok? Nurse!”

“No, wait, I’m ok. Damn,” Swain rubbed his face with both hands.

“He’s had a concussion, and he’s been walking around, and now he stopped talking in the middle of a sentence,” Dutchy was talking to somebody above him. “Swain?” 

A hand was shaking his shoulder. “Petty Officer Blake? Cox’n?” a deep voice asked.

“No I’m fine, I just realized something. It’s unbelievable, but it would be, wouldn’t it?” he grinned at Dutchy and the nurse bending over him. 

“I think, Petty Officer, you should come back with me. There’s a wheelchair here, the nurse will help you in. Are you experiencing any flashes of light, any sharp pain, can you see?”

“I’m fine. Thanks. Really. I just remembered something from before,”

“Oh? What?” Dutchy asked, a worried frown on his face.

“The dog. She never told us its name. But Ro told me his name is Jesse,”

“Ok. Nurse, would you help me here, Petty Officer Blake – Chris. We’re just going to take you up to the MRI. We just need to check that concussion,”

“I’ll see you later, Dutchy,” Swain said, feeling elated.


	4. Dutchy

Dutchy was released a day after Swain had been to see him. The wound itched madly, and he was delighted when, as he limped out into the car park, he saw the X waving at him next to his car.

“You are an angel, X,” he said, dumping his bag on the back seat.

“A little thing for one of the heroes of the hour,” she smiled. 

He looked at her critically, seeing her sunny smile, the way she seemed to be almost bursting with joy. ”Something the matter, X?” 

Then he looked closer and saw a ring on her finger. “You got engaged?”

“Oh, yes. He asked me before the whole thing happened, and I accepted after it was finished. It seemed somehow fitting,”

“Congratulations. I think,”

She hit him on the shoulder and sat in the driver’s seat. He limped to the passenger side and groaning, lifted himself into place.

“Where do you want to go on your first day of freedom? We are meeting in the pub, if you’re up to it, or I can take you home,”

“Pub, I think. How is the Swain? Any bleed or anything since he collapsed?”

“Right as rain. No more odd conversations about dogs. He was sprung yesterday, and Sally has promised to let him out for a   
couple of hours to see us,”

Dutchy laughed, then regretted it. “Ow. That’ll be good. What about Captain Roth,”

“He’s coming too. Actually, he might be there already. He was allowed out two days ago and has been hanging out on the couch,”

“Right,” Dutchy leaned back. It wasn’t what he had hoped for the X.

“Oh, pull your head in, Dutchy. I know the two of you won’t get along, you’re both too much alpha males for that,” Kate said, still smiling but a little testy. 

“Sorry, Kate,” 

“Alright. Between you and Mike, it’s like being surrounded by bears with sore heads. So please try tonight?”

“Yeah. Alright,” 

They had taken over the outer tables, and Dutchy had to limp a phalanx of handshakes and shoulder slaps and one strong hug from Bird before he was able to collapse at one of the seats. 

“Swain. Good to see you,” he sighed, seeing him also sat at the table. 

“Hey mate. Good to see you on your feet. You’re looking better,”

“I feel better. What about you? What did the MRI show?”

Swain started grinning even wider. “Nothing. Clean bill of health. The doctors think the concussion is one of those that will linger for a few weeks, give me headaches,”

“You’re looking happy about that,” 

“Consider the alternative,”

“You have a point. Oh no, is he coming here?” Dutchy saw Captain Roth swinging toward them propped up by crutches.

“Be good. He’s going to make her happy, and he and I defused a dirty bomb together,”

“Does he grow on you? Like fungus?” Dutchy asked in a low voice. “Captain Roth! Good to see you up and about,”

“You too, Bosun. Are you here at the soft drinks table too?”

“Soft drinks?”

“I’m not allowed alcohol, and the Swain here is under orders from a higher authority. My understanding is that if he is good, he may have half a shandy. And you’re still on the antibiotics?”

“Actually, yeah. Nother week,” Dutchy allowed.

“Here,” Ro said from behind him, and a tray of glasses appeared on the table. “Orange juice. Want this one, Dutchy?”

“Thanks, Ro,” Swain said. 

“Is there anything else apart from orange juice that’s free of alcohol?” Dutchy asked.

“I don’t know. Want me to ask?” Ro said.

“That be great, Ro,” Swain said. “Thanks mate,”

“You were going to have a drink with him? Am I interrupting?”

“Nah, you’re not. We’ve been getting people to tell us their bits of that day, and now we are grilling Ro. Including the famous corridor shouting scene, which Mike is still really pissed about,” Captain Roth said, grinning.

“You still on about that?” Dutchy asked. 

“Sure. We want the whole story. It wasn’t just us two cutting wires, Dutchy. Without you lot – well better not think about it,” Swain said.

“Thanks. But still, I fail to see what this has to do with the corridor shouting scene,”

Swain and the captain shared an enigmatic look, but failed to answer. 

“Come on. A dust-up because Ro left his post needs to go into your reconstruction? What, you blame him for not giving you a few seconds more?” Dutchy asked.

“Not at all, mate,” Captain Roth grinned. “It’s just that he was next to the wardroom. Why not use the head near the ComCen? We think he was in his bunk, actually, it would have been one place he could be sure was empty,”

“What? Are you accusing him of shirking?” Dutchy asked appalled.

“No. Believe me, without Ro we’d be dead. He stopped the timer. It seems the nearer he was to the bomb, the better his blocking worked. Those last few seconds were crucial, too, else our tinny would have been right in the blast,” Swain said, picking up his orange juice and taking a sip.

“So – what. This is some sort of new Ro behavior, hiding in his bunk to do his work?” Dutchy asked.

Swain sniggered into his glass. “No, mate. Just that it makes appearing and disappearing easier,”

“Useful,” Captain Roth said thoughtfully.

“And not to be suborned by unscrupulous people. One lemonade,” Ro said flatly, dumping a tall glass in front of Dutchy.

“Thanks, Ro,” Dutchy said. 

“Sit down, Ro, come on,” Swain wheedled.

“Yeah, mate. Sit down and tell us. And Dutchy can listen and smooth things out with Mike,” Captain Roth said.

“I don’t need Dutchy to fight my battles for me,” Ro said pugnaciously, but sat.

“From what Kate said, he’s still growling at you, and you are still colder than usual to him,” Captain Roth answered.

“I am not cold,”

But legitimately pissed off at the boss,” Swain finished.

Ro stared at his drink for a minute. “Yeah,” he finally admitted.

Swain patted him on the shoulder. “So. Me and Dutchy here are going to be smoothing that one out, but me and Jim really want to know about Kevin. And Amy and Lisa, and that dog,”

Dutchy stared at his shipmate. “Are you alright, Swain? You kept on about that dog all the time,”

“They kept telling me I must have hallucinated Kevin, and I believed them,” Captain Roth said. “Who sees a fat English bloke wearing a thick wooly jumper in equatorial Australia? But then Swain here remembered him too,”

“And Jim remembered an old dog, who I was told was my hallucination,”

“And we figured that we couldn’t both have hallucinated the same thing, so, Ro. Explain,”

Ro looked at them all. Then sat back, stared at his drink, his brows creased. Then he shrugged his shoulders, and a quirky smile came over his face.

“Kevin isn’t fat. And he is hurt you said that of him,”

“So he was there. And so were you,” Swain said.

Dutchy stared at them. “What do you mean? Ro wasn’t on the boat with you. He was on the Hammersley,”

“So I was,” Ro said, and smiled again. “Jade will be upset you didn’t remember her. She found you, what did she say, smashing,”

“How – what-“ Dutchy managed. 

“And forget about utilizing us for anything, Captain,” Ro added. “We don’t do cloak and dagger. We are pacifists,”

“Pacifists?” Captain Roth asked, eyes wide.

“Yes,” Ro took a bigger gulp of orange juice.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Dutchy said, feeling dazed.

“Yes, what are we talking about?” Ro asked innocently.

“Captain Roth and I were alone on a boat in the middle of the bay with a ticking dirty bomb. And then you, Robert, appear with five of your friends and a dog, stop the timer, watch us separate and then ditch the radioactive elements and urge us onto the tinny. And then the boat goes up in flames,” Swain said.

“Excuse me?” Dutchy asked again.

“And now we are here to ask questions,” Captain Roth finished.

“Fire away,” Ro said, seeming amused.

Dutchy groaned, looking around for help. There was the boss at the bar, talking to an older man. When Mike looked up, Dutchy discreetly waved at him to come over.

“First off, did everybody get away safely?” Swain asked.

“All safe and well. Although Jesse has had an upset stomach, Jade thinks it was because his circadian rhythms got out of sync. I think it was the brownie Lisa’s mum fed him,”

“Jesse?” Captain Roth asked.

“The dog,” Ro and Swain said at the same time.

“Right. The dog. Wait! That dog! You were talking about the dog when you came to see me!” Dutchy called.

“Yeah, mate. I was worried,” Swain said, smiling again.

“Ok. How did everybody get off safely?” Captain Roth went on.

“Same way we got onto the boat. We popped in,” Ro answered.

“You were on the boat?” Dutchy asked.

“Yes. The nearer the signal was to the timer, the better we were able to block it,” Ro said. “Right beside it seemed best,”

Captain Roth leaned back, a thoughtful look on his face. Swain shook his head, smiling. “The girl, Ami, she was gone earlier,”

“There you are, gentlemen,” Mike Flynn said from above them. He was still accompanied by the older man.

“Hello, sir,” Ro said peaceably. Dutchy noted he was not only polite, but almost warm.

The boss gave him a quick look and a raised eyebrow, but said: “Allow me to introduce you to General Damon from the US military scientific branch. He is liaising with us to recover and secure the two cases of Caesium from the bay,”

“Gentlemen, an honour,” the general said. “You are to be thanked for containing that explosion,” 

“General Damon, this is Captain Jim Roth of the SAS, and these are Chief Petty Officer Mulholland, Petty Officer Blake and you know Leading Seaman Dixon, of my crew of the Hammersely,”

“My apologies for gatecrashing what is obviously a party for the wounded heroes,” the general said. “Since the powers that be have imposed me and my men on the crew of the Hammersley, I thought it might be nice to get to know you on a more informal basis,”

“Not at all, sir. Glad to share a drink,” Ro answered.

Dutchy gave him another confused look. 

“May we join you?” the general asked. “Not only do I wish to hear all about it, I’m afraid we are having a bit of trouble locating the two cases you dropped overboard. Now I know physical descriptions are little to go on when diving around a bay, but still. Every little helps,”

“Of course! Have a seat, sir. Are you joining us too, boss?” Swain asked.

“Thanks, I will. I want to hear it too. All I have is reports,” the boss said, pulling out a couple of chairs.

“What did we interrupt?” the boss asked once they sat, looking at Dutchy.

Dutchy’s head was whirling. What with Ro actively enabling Swain and Captain Roth’s hallucination, he didn’t know what to do and how to broach the subject to them. But Ro was quicker.

“They were asking about my friend Ami,” he said calmly.

“Right,” Captain Flynn said, looking quizzical.

“So how is she?” Swain asked.

“Very well, thank you,” Ro answered.

“Glad to hear it,” Captain Roth said. “Have you been diving long, General Damon?”

“Well, we were asked to come and secure the stuff a day after your excitement, and I rather think your government expected us to swoop in and swoop out with two neatly wrapped packages, but the best-laid plans – there seems to be an interesting current in the bay and we have been unable to locate the things. Divers diving in shifts day and night. The Hammersely, I am sorry to say, smells like old socks from all the drying wetsuits,”

Ro sniggered, and the general threw a quelling look at him. Amazingly, it worked. “Sorry, sir,” Ro said.

“Anyway. What exactly are we looking for? How heavy were they, for example?”

“Oh,” Swain started. “Not that heavy. About two pounds each, I think. They are light brown, sort of earthy in colour. And rectangular. That is about all I can tell you,”

“Yes, I figured. Light enough for anybody to walk off with them too, I suppose. Oh, well. We will find them. Only about three quarters of the bay to go. If you don’t throw us out in frustration, Mike,”

“No, not at all, we are happy to host you,” the boss said, and seemed to mean it too.

Dutchy shook his head, and had some more lemonade. He had drained the whole thing, wishing it was beer.

“Want another, Dutchy?” Ro asked him.

“Is there anything apart from orange juice and lemonade?” he asked despondently.

“Coffee?” Ro offered.

Dutchy groaned and nodded. Ro got up, cradling his own empty glass. “What about you, general? Boss?”

“I’ll have a beer, thanks, Ro,” the boss answered. Dutchy glanced at him. Maybe smoothing things over between the two wasn’t necessary after all. 

“A coffee for me, please, son. Here, let me, I think you call it shout here, right? Here,” From a pocket, he pulled out a wallet and handed it over.

“Thank you,” Ro grinned and left.

“That wasn’t necessary, Bill, but much appreciated,” the boss said.

“Yes, thank you sir,” Swain added.

“Oh, dear. I gave him the wrong wallet,” the general suddenly said. “I carry separate wallets with separate currency, you see. I think I gave him my London wallet. No, the US one. I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ll have to leave for a minute, before he tries to pay with dollars…” the general rose. “And I can give him a hand with all the drinks coming back,” 

He moved to the bar. 

“Nice guy,” Dutchy commented. 

“He and Ro seem to get on. Normally Ro is as prickly as a cactus with new people,” Swain commented.

“Must be all the time he has to spend in the ComCen with him. Ro must have spent two shifts sending and decrypting messages from NavCom and the general’s outfit with the general breathing down his neck. I admit I was concerned, but it’s like the general is Ro’s extremely laid-back father,” the captain said.

“Really?” Swain asked amazed. 

“Sounds like the general is a bit laid-back all the time,” Captain Roth commented.

“Not really. He runs a very tight department. A very professional officer, and highly intelligent,”

“High praise from you, sir,” Dutchy commented.

“I do admire him,” the boss admitted.

“A lot of little birds told me there’s trouble between you and Ro, though,” Swain said.

“Scuttlebutt must have been busy. By the way, who told you the first time? One of the nurses?”

“Must have been. Anyway, anything me and Dutchy should be aware of? How are things?”

“Well, I’ll admit I was disappointed in his professional conduct, and he has been rather uncharacteristically defensive about his behavior. Which made it difficult to put it behind us, as he was sulking the whole time,”

“Sulking?” Dutchy asked. “How does Ro sulk?”

“No quips, smart comments, little dry asides. Very correct reporting of all messages and no pointing out potential stink bombs from NavCom,” the boss said, and sighed. “Just a little black cloud sitting there being silent,”

“Did you have a word with him about his attitude?” Dutchy asked.

“The X was the first. She got fed up with him, and sat him down privately, and after that his attitude only extended to me. Then the general had a word with him, and this last shift I was getting my messages with little comments again,”

“So things are back to normal?” Swain asked.

“Once we have a talk, yes. You two better sit in on that one,” the boss sighed.

“Noted, boss,” Dutchy said. 

“The general had a word with Robert?” Swain asked.

“He ran it past me first. Though how he knew there was a problem I don’t know. Maybe scuttlebutt told him, too,” the captain said, a trifle sourly.

“They’re on their way back,” Captain Roth said quietly.

“Thanks Jim. Ah, drinks. Thank you, Bill,”

“My pleasure. Your health, gentlemen. Is it allowable to clink a coffee cup to a glass of beer?”

“Why not. To you, Swain, and Jim,” 

“Cheers,” they chorused. 

Dutchy took a sip of his coffee. It was better than the lemonade.

“So how did you manage to defuse the bomb?” the general asked.

“Well, we didn’t. Not really. We cut the Caesium free and then legged it,” Captain Roth said. 

“Oh, yes, of course. Bit of luck you had the time, eh?”

“Robert managed to stop the timer for a bit. That gave us time,” Swain put in.

“Nice work, gentlemen,” the general said approvingly. 

“Terrifying, you mean,” the boss put in. 

“That, too. But well done. We owe you a great debt,” the general said. 

A mobile started ringing just as they were clinking glasses again. Automatically, everybody started checking pockets. 

“It’s mine,” the captain said and slipped his phone out. “Mike Flynn,” he said. A moment later he was up. “Yes sir. Right away,” He clicked it off.

“Sorry guys. NavCom want a word. I will have to leave you to it,”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Mike. More inconveniences connected to our stay, no doubt. If there is anything I can do to help ease the process, you let me know, right?” the general said.

“Appreciate that, Bill. I’ll see you later, Ro. Get well soon Dutchy, Swain. Jim,”

They watched the captain go toward the exit. Ro drained his orange juice and set his glass down. “I have to get going, too. I have Watch,” he said.

“It’s not for another hour,” Swain said, glancing at his watch. 

“Yes, but I need to find 2Dads and bring him along. He has Watch too,” Ro answered, getting up.

“Well, it was delightful. I shall see you tomorrow morning, then, Leader,” the general said comfortably. Dutchy bit his lip in annoyance.

“Thank you sir, the pleasure is mine. See you later, guys,” Ro waved at them and moved off. Dutchy didn’t miss the aborted move Captain Roth made to keep him there.

“Anyway, before all the interruptions, you were telling me about how you disabled the bomb,” the general resumed. 

“Oh. Sorry, sir. Yes. Well, not much more to tell,” Swain said distractedly.

“Really? The reports make such fascinating reading. What was Kevin doing, for example?” the general asked.

“Kevin?” Captain Roth asked guardedly.

“You told your first interviewer about an English man named Kevin, who was with you,” the general said affably. He took another sip of coffee. “This coffee is so strong. Still, better than the British tea obsession. I had so many cups of tea and cucumber sandwiches in my time I haven’t really been able to look a cucumber in the face again,”

Dutchy gaped at Swain. 

“You read all the reports, sir?” Swain asked.

“Yes, I did. Very commendable of you to be so concerned for the dog, by the way. Which was apparently also on the boat,”

“Yes sir. Hallucinations, apparently,”

“We had a good time comparing notes on our individual remembrances,” Captain Roth offered.

“Which is why your recollection of how you cut the Caesium free start sounding similar and plausible on the third day after you both woke up and had a confab. The interesting thing is that while you, Captain Roth, mention Kevin the English man, which Petty Officer Blake does not, and Petty Officer Blake was worried about the dog, both of you maintained for quite a while that Leading Seaman Dixon was on the boat with you. And both of you, before you met and talked, independently mention Ami,”

“We did?” Swain asked faintly.

“When asked, Captain Roth indicated Leading Seaman Dixon had introduced you. Incidentally, also to Kevin the English guy,” the general went on.

The stuff you dream up,” Swain said easily. “Ro must have introduced some of his friends to us at one point,” 

“Yes. And of course, Leading Seaman Dixon was on the Hammersley, seen by a large number of people, and memorably bellowed at for being on the loo by the commander of the ship in Chief Petty Officer Mulholland’s hearing,” the general went on. 

“What are you saying, sir?” Dutchy asked testily.

“I need to get the Caesium secured. For that to happen, it needs to be found on the sea floor of the bay. Unfortunately, the Australian government has been most assiduous in trying to recover it, before I and my team came on the scene, with scores of Australian navy divers helping, and now I need it deposited at a certain point at the end of a slight current where it may have feasibly been transported, so it can be found and we can all go home,” the general said calmly.

“It sounds as if you’ve already got the stuff,” Captain Roth said slowly.

“Of course. Ami fished them out, don’t you remember Lisa telling you? They decided they couldn’t risk it igniting in the explosion, so removed it. The difficulty now is getting it to where it needs to be found to maintain plausible deniability. Which is where I was hoping you gentlemen could come in,”

“What, Ro told you about this?” Swain asked, looking dazed.

“Actually, Megabyte did. The others just confirmed it,”

“I’m sorry, I’m not going to let this carry on,” Dutchy said sharply. “You are obviously having your little joke, general, but this is cruel,”

“Oh, I am sorry. Yes it does all sound rather far-fetched, doesn’t it? Maybe we can convene tomorrow morning? At, yes, my people hired an office. You can make your formal statements to me there. I’ll get the details to you, don’t be late,” the general said. “And now I must leave you. I have taken too much of your time already,” 

He smiled and stood up. “Tomorrow, gentlemen,”

“What was that about?” Dutchy asked.


	5. Swain

Swain stuck his cap under his arm as he entered the nondescript office building just off the harbour. The lobby was full of people, half of them in wetsuits and the other half in black suits unsuited to the climate. Scattered among the throng were navy and army personnel. He made his way toward the stairs.

“Petty Officer Blake? This way please, General Damon has an office on the second floor,” an aide said with a strong American accent.

“Thanks,” Swain said, following.

“Sorry about the stairs,” the aide said. “We quite forgot to take into account any special needs when we hired this office complex. So there is no lift,”

“That’s fine, I’m good on my feet,” Swain said.

“Yes, that’s what Captain Roth said, but seeing him hopping up these stairs on a broken leg was very embarrassing,” the man said. “I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how much I admire what you have done,” he went on.

“Thanks, much appreciated,” Swain answered, amused. 

“I’m sorry we have to drag you away from your well-earned rest. But the general needs to be thorough, and it seemed best to get all reports together while it is fresh on the mind,”

“Dazed and all. I was out of it when I woke up,” Swain said. “Kept asking about a dog,”

“Understandable, sir, but I have heard you are clear again,”

“That’s right,”

“Well. Here we are,” the aide said, stopping at a door and knocking before opening it. “Petty Officer Blake is here, sir,”

“Oh, thank you. Good to see you, Petty Officer. May I call you Swain? We are all complete then? Thank you Jenkins, you may go,” General Damon said.

Swain entered and looked around. The office was spacious, overlooking the bay, and obviously hastily jury rigged to contain a detailed map on a large stand, liberally dotted in red, a large table with glasses and water and juices in the middle and a desk in a corner. Sitting at the table, his leg propped up on another chair, was Jim Roth. 

“Good morning, sir,” Swain greeted. “Captain Roth,”

“Petty Officer Blake,” Jim greeted.

“Oh, so formal today. Do sit down. Have some coffee. Would you like something to eat? A snack? Fruit?” the general offered.

“Coffee would be good,” Swain allowed. 

“One coffee, coming up,” the general said, rushing to a side table on which a large automatic coffee machine stood. “Would you like a cappuccino? Espresso? This machine does it all. Latte? I have some sirups if you prefer a flavoured coffee,”

“Flavoured coffee?” Swain asked helplessly.

“Oh, yes. Captain Roth is enjoying a hazelnut coffee as we speak,” the general said, fiddling with the machine.

Swain threw an incredulous look at Jim. Jim looked a little embarrassed.

“He was so enthusiastic about it,” he whispered.

“My children gave this machine to me for my fiftieth birthday. And last Christmas, Marmaduke gave me a whole set of different flavours of coffee sirup. Would you like chocolate? Or pistachio? You look like a pistachio. Here,” a cup was thrust into his hands. 

“Thank you sir,” Swain managed. 

“Now. Where did I put them? Oh yes. Here,” he pulled two folders off his desk and brought them over, before sitting down opposite and sliding them over. 

“These are your statements as to the events on the boat the day of the explosion. Would you just sign and date them on the dotted line?”

Swain opened his folder and glanced at the contents. “But this is my original report, the one I dictated to NavCom!” he said.

“Yes, the official one. It seemed a waste of time rewriting the report, so if you would…” General Damon produced two pens and rolled them over to them.

“I’m sorry, general, but it was my impression yesterday that you were unsatisfied with these reports,” Jim said slowly. “So why accept them now?”

“Who said anything about not accepting them? There needs to be an official report, and this is a good one. Utterly plausible. What’s not to like? So just sign them off, there’s good fellows. Would you like a brownie? Freshly made yesterday,” he produced a plate. 

Swain stared at the brownies. They smelt heavenly, and warm.

“Did you reheat them?” Jim asked.

“No. Due to time difference, Texas is a day behind us. These are almost fresh from the oven,”

“Right,” Swain said, and took one. They were heavenly.

“Yes, Mrs Davies makes a mean brownie,” the general said.

“No thank you, sir,” Jim said firmly. “I would actually like to know why we are here, if you accept our statements,” 

“Oh, to sign the non-disclosure agreement underneath,” General Damon said calmly.

Swain picked up his statement. Underneath that another piece of paper revealed itself. He picked it up to read. It was quite short.

“Not reveal the fact that a non-disclosure was signed on this date?” Jim asked.

“Oh, yes. This is just the covering document. I have another non-disclosure here,” he thumped two more folders on the table. They were noticeably thicker.

Jim swore loudly. Swain rubbed his head. 

“What do you want us not talking about, exactly?” he asked.

“Any strange appearances and disappearances on the boat. You just defused a dirty bomb and got off in time to survive. That is what I want you to say, nothing more. Oh, and I want you to go on a fishing trip in the harbor,” the general said.

“A fishing trip?” Swain asked, glancing at Jim. 

“Yes. The bay is closed to recreational fishing at the moment, but you will get permission especially if we couch it in terms of hero buddies going off to recuperate in tranquility,” 

“Right,” Jim said slowly. 

There was an odd crackle and behind the general a tall redhead appeared.

“Hi!” he said. 

General Damon twitched. “I will never get used to this,”

Swain jumped out of his chair in surprise. “I know you!” he shouted.

“Well, yes. We met on the boat just before it exploded. Did you forget? Adam said you were a bit confused,” the man answered. 

“Oh, is there coffee?” He made his way around the table.

“So it was real,” Jim said.

“You can appear and disappear?” Swain asked.

“Yes. I’m a Tomorrow Person,” the man said proudly.

“You can tell they named themselves when they were teenagers, can’t you?” General Damon said affably. 

“And your name is –“ Jim invited.

“Megabyte,” the redhead said.

“Marmaduke,” the general said.

“Marmaduke?” Swain asked.

“The fourth, thank you so much, Dad,” the redhead groused.

“The Marmadukes have a long and proud history,” the general said calmly.

“Which is why your friends all call you Bill,” Megabyte said, reached over to the table for a couple of cups and started on the coffee machine.

There was a knock on the door and it opened to admit a pretty girl.

“Hey, General Damon. This security pass is awesome! Megabyte!” She threw herself at the redhead, who swept her up in a hug.

“Lisa! When did you get here?”

“Oh, about an hour ago. I would have been earlier, but Ma wanted to bake some brownies and I had to wait until they were done. Hello. Nice to see you again. I’m glad you’re ok. Adam did say we might have slightly misjudged the timing,”

Swain had risen in surprise. Jim lowered his leg to the floor. There was another sizzle. Kevin appeared in the room, in an anorak and Wellingtons, both glistening wet and liberally smeared with mud. He looked at them sitting at the table, and his face drew up in a pout.

“I am not fat,” he stated.

“Ah, Kevin. Good to see you. Where have you come from?” General Damon asked.

“Just been seeing to a heifer. A breech birth, of all things. Is there any tea? And something to eat? I’m starving. It’s hot here,” he started shedding clothes and the boots. He was wearing thick woolly socks.

“Lisa! Megabyte! I’d hug you, but I’m covered in cowpats. Is there a shower here, General D?”

“Sorry. How about you pop over to Adam’s, he won’t mind you using his shower,” the general said. 

“Oh, yes. Good point,” With that, he was gone. 

“He forgot to take his wet stuff,” Lisa said.

Swain sat back down. “He is a vet?” he asked.

“Yes. He has a practice in Sussex,” Lisa said. 

“Sussex?” Jim asked.

“The one in England. His aunt is a vet, too, but she’s getting on,” Megabyte supplied.

“And how did you meet? You are both Americans, and he’s English,” Swain said.

“When we broke out. Kevin and I used to dream of each other, that was before we met Adam,” Lisa said.

“And we went to school together when my dad was stationed in London,” Megabyte added.

“So – what. There are people who can pop in and out of places?” Jim asked. “Must be useful in your line of work, general, to have that ability,”

“Oh, I can’t. It’s just this lot. Telepathy and teleportation, mostly,” the general said.

“And Megabyte is really good with computers. Kevin on the other hand tends to mess with signal equipment,” Lisa added. 

“Well. Thanks for your help with the bomb,” Jim said. 

Swain glanced at him. Jim was clearly struggling for something to say. He scratched his head. “Did you take away the Caesium?” 

“It’s currently under my bed,” a gentle voice said behind him. He nearly twisted his neck in the rush to look around. 

“Ami, my dear. How good of you to come,” General Damon said.   
“This was the earliest I could get away,” she said, and yawned hugely. “What a day. Oh, what beautiful sunshine. It is warm, isn’t it? What is the time? Here, I mean,”

“Just going 9.30. I’m afraid I have no tea,” the general said. “Coffee?”

Ami brushed past the table and hugged Megabyte and Lisa, then sniffed. “What is that smell?” 

“Cowpats. Kevin was in after a breech birth, and left his work wear here,”

“Where did he go? Back to bed?”

“No, over to Adam’s for a shower,”

Ami accepted the cup of coffee Megabyte gave her and sat next to Swain.

“How are you feeling? I’m sorry we had to let the timer count down before you were entirely clear. I’m just glad that it is only minor injuries,”

“You are too kind,” Jim said, in his most gravelly voice. 

Swain glanced over at him uncertainly. Something wet touched the back of his arm, and he yelped in fright. There was a bump and an exclamation of pain and from under the table next to his chair a very old and smelly dog padded out, followed by a blonde girl on hands and knees.

“Who moved this table here?” she asked. “Jesse! Stop that! Bad dog,”

Jim heaved himself up to his feet again as the dog wagged past him to the discarded pile of wet and smelly rainwear to sniff it enthusiastically.

“Is it raining?” the girl asked.

“Jade, wasn’t it?” Swain asked, deciding he had gone mad and to like it.

“That’s right. Jesse! That’s really sweet of you to be worried about Jesse, by the way,”

“Yes, well,” Swain managed. “Could I maybe have some water?”

“Is there any tea? Oh, brownies! Did your mum make these, Lisa?”

“No tea, I am sorry. I can offer you coffee?”

“Nah, cheers, can’t get a taste for it. I’ll have some of this squash,” Jade said, reaching across the table.

Swain realized then that she was wearing what had to be a nightie, even if it was the warmest he had ever seen. She was even wearing bedsocks.

“Did you fall out of bed?” Jim asked.

Jade looked down at herself. “Shoot! I forgot to change!” She vanished. The dog looked around vaguely, then went back to sniffing the wet anorak.

“Well, with most of you here, can I call this meeting to order?” the general asked.

“Adam isn’t here yet,” Ami said.

“Well, could you keep a line of communication open to him?” General Damon asked.

Megabyte closed his eyes, hands lifting toward his temples, then lowered them again. “He says he has to concentrate, but that he can get away in an hour,”

“Well. How about I tell you my idea, then we can rough it out and put a plan in place for tomorrow?” the general asked.

“What plan?” Jim cut in.

“How to dump the two cases of Caesium currently under Ami’s bed in the path of the current in the bay so it can be found by my divers tomorrow evening, when they are scheduled to reach that part of the search area,” General Damon said.

“Can we teleport?” Ami asked.

“All in good time. First, Captain Roth and Chief Petty Officer Blake need to hire a boat and take it out on the bay. They park it above the correct place, and then you, Ami, translocate there with the two cases and quietly slip them overboard,”

“You want us to do what?” Swain asked.

“Don’t worry. It’s easy, you have to do nothing but take the boat to a certain place. I’ve worked it all out,” the general said happily.

“But the bay is closed to fishing! You said so yourself!” 

“But no one is going to deny two heroes a bit of fishing recuperation. You could even chug out of the harbor somewhere else if you want. Just quickly stop over the spot so Ami can dump the cases, and go on to fish some fish. If you take your Chief Petty Officer, it will be even better. Three convalescents trying to get away from it all, for an afternoon of quiet contemplation of the waves,”

“He gets a bit poetic, sorry,” Megabyte put in.

“How likely is it that we won’t be watched, and somebody sees us?” Jim asked.

“I’ll disable the EOD from the bridge, and Megabyte will stop the sat signal,” Ro said from behind them.

Swain whipped around again. “RO! Christ in heaven,”

Ami let out a whip of greeting, and jumped into Ro’s arms, quickly followed by Lisa, and Megabyte piled on top. There was a whirl of talking, giggling, and suddenly Jade appeared to be absorbed into the group. The dog set up a bark, wagging his tail madly.

Jim and Swain stood staring, then turned to the general, who was beaming.

“Adam! I thought you couldn’t come yet,” 

“Personal break. I have two minutes. Is the plan acceptable?” he asked, looking at Swain.

Swain opened and then closed his mouth. “What?” he managed. 

“Uhoh, 2Dads wants something. Sorry,” Ro was gone again.

“I see so little of him now!” Jade pouted, calming the dog down with a biscuit. Now she was dressed in a pretty floral dress that screamed English rose. 

“He’s busy, so are you. It’s your first year at university,” Lisa soothed. “And consider the time difference,” 

“Oh god, yes, the time difference,” Jade sighed, and sat at the table. “I have a flask of tea here,” she produced it.

“Oh, thank god,” Ami said.

“Since when is Robert a part of your group?” Swain asked carefully.

“Robert? Who is Robert?” Jade asked, apportioning a vile black concoction out of her flask into two cups.

“He means Adam,” Ami said, picking up her cup of tea and moving over to the coffee machine to splash a little milk into the tar-like liquid. “Mhm. Lovely cuppa,”

“Cheers. This weather is so nice. Have you seen the blue sky? It’s raining buckets, and they say it’s going to turn into snow later today,”

“We have fog,” Ami said gloomily.

“And Sussex has rain?” Jim said rather sharply.

“Does it? Did Kevin say?” Ami asked.

“We inferred,” Jim answered indicating the wet and smelly gear.

“So has the weather been holding here?” Ami asked.

“We have a drought in Texas,” Lisa supplied.

“Don’t look at me, I never talk about the weather. I live in New York, we talk about the taxi traffic,” Megabyte said quickly.

He bent over to Swain and whispered “They’re English, you see. Love talking about the weather. Just humour them,”

“And how did you all meet? You seem to be from all corners of the earth,” Jim went on.

“We congregated. But we lived near each other in London for some years,”

“Robert lived in London?” Swain asked. “I hadn’t realized he’d been to Europe,”

“That is certainly where I met him. Now, gentlemen, if I could have you back to the business at hand?” General Damon cut in.   
“Our meeting is scheduled to be over by 10.30. I wouldn’t like my next meeting with Commander White to run into this one,”

“Ok. I think that means we are supposed to go. We’ll be at Adam’s,” Megabyte said with a grin, then vanished with a pop.

“Take Kevin’s – oh, for Pete’s sake,” General Damon sighed. 

The other people had vanished, even the dog. The smelly gear was still there. 

“I’ll shove it into the toilet. This office actually has a private bathroom. One moment,” he grabbed the stuff and dragged it behind a door Swain saw for the first time.

“They have amazing abilities,” Jim said after a moment.

“Don’t they just. And they are lovely kids. I’m very fond of all of them, even though they do tend to get in the way of things,” the general said distractedly, closing the door. “There. Just let me open the window,”  
He walked over and searched around the large space. “Oh, dear. Yes?” he shouted when there was a knock at the door. 

Swain swung around, half expecting some other odd person to walk in, but was surprised to see the boss, closely followed by Ro carrying papers.

“Bill, I’m sorry if I’m interrupting. Ro has a number of messages to drop off, and I thought I might accompany him,” the boss said easily, but he threw a concerned glance at Swain.

“Not at all, Mike, glad to see you! Can I offer you a coffee? And would you know how to open these windows?”

The boss looked a little helpless, then wrinkled his nose when he came further into the room and the smell hit him.

“Powerful air you’ve got here,” he remarked.

“Must be the hazelnut sirup,” General Damon said. “How is the search progressing? Anything important in that heap of messages, RO, or is it waffle?”

“Mostly waffle, sir. The top five are important,”

“Thanks, son. Dump them on the desk, would you? Do you know how to open this window?”

Ro flashed a smile, transforming his face in a way Swain had never seen before. He brushed past the table, set a heap of papers onto the desk and brought a few more over to the general next to the window. He took over the hunt for the window catch as the general glanced through his messages.

“So, coffee, Mike? And a refill for you, Petty Officer?” he asked.

“You seem to have been trying out all sorts of coffee,” the boss observed, looking at the proliferation of cups on the table.

“Yes, some went over a little better than others. Captain Roth here did not care for the Amaretto flavor,” General Damon indicated the cup Lisa had left, “but is having better results with the hazelnut. And your Swain here really didn’t like the elderberry,” he indicated the cup Megabyte had carried, “although I cannot fault him for it. And the pistachio doesn’t seem to be to his taste either,” he fretted. 

Swain looked down at his nearly full cup, then at the boss, who seemed rather flummoxed. The general flipped through the next message and wandered over to his machine.

“Tell you what, Mike, how about a vanilla? And Captain Roth, maybe a chocolate next?”

“I am fine, thank you. I’m not supposed to drink too much coffee with my pain meds anyway,” Jim said quickly.

“I’ve managed to crack the window open, sir. Is there anything else?” Ro asked civilly.

“Oh, no, thanks. I’ll probably see you later,”

“Very good, sir,” Ro answered, and made for the door, closing it behind him.

The machine made a burbling noise, and then the general chose a bottle and then splashed some liquid into the cup. A rather sickly smell of vanilla arose.

“Try that, Mike,” 

“Thanks, Bill,” the boss said, sounding rather flustered.

“Have a seat. Actually, we are almost finished here. All that’s left to do is for you gentlemen to sign your statements and forms,” General Damon said. “You are very welcome to stay until our meeting starts, Mike,” he added. “I would welcome the company. Can I offer you a brownie?”

“Thank you, Bill,” Mike said and took a piece. “These are very good,”

Swain carefully opened his folder again and stared down at his statement. Then he took a pen and signed his name. And then signed the first of the two nondisclosure forms. 

“Thank you, Petty Officer. And here is the other form to sign…” General Damon handed over the next folder. Numbly, Swain signed that too.

“Wonderful. I apologize for taking up time during your convalescence. I hope I didn’t mess with any plans you had,” the general said nicely.

Swain leaned back and came to a sudden decision. “Actually, I was hoping I could go fishing. Get out on a boat and just, you know, stick a pole into the water and forget everything for a few hours,” he said.

“Capital idea,” General Damon said. “How about you, Captain Roth? Any plans?”

“No, not really. But fishing sounds good. I should do something similar,”

“You have definitely earned a break, but fishing might be difficult in the bay,” the boss said. “The bay has been closed to recreational fishing, swimming and diving,”

“Can’t we wangle a permit for these two?” the general asked. “After all, heroes of the hour and all that, plus, they are armed services personnel. The point about closing the bay was to keep anybody from accidentally finding the radioactive material, and if these two find it, they will turn it in,”

“Fair enough,” the boss said, and smiled. “We could mention it during the meeting,”

“Excellent,” General Damon pulled a clean cup off a tray and pressed out more coffee.

“What flavor are you having?” Jim asked.

“Oh, plain. I don’t like the sirup flavours,” 

Mike started laughing. “You devious man,” he said admiringly.


	6. Dutchy

Dutchy carefully exited his taxi, and stared at the boat moored at the pier. 

“Quite a sight, eh?” Swain said. “It couldn’t just be a tinny, or a little boat, it had to be this party monster,”

“For a fishing trip?” Dutchy asked dumbfounded. “How many people did you invite to your convalescent fishing trip?”

“General Damon hired the boat for us. I understand it was his assistant, that Jenkins guy? Man has no idea about boats, and I think the hire guys just took him for a ride. But since Uncle Sam is paying, I for one aren’t looking a gift horse in the mouth,”

“Wow. Look at this thing!” Dutchy marveled. He limped forward and onto the deck, with only minimal help from Swain, and fell gratefully onto soft sofa cushions on the wide, flat deck. “I am not doing any fishing. I’m just going to sit here and enjoy the hell out of these seats,”

Swain grinned at him, then waved as another taxi drew up and let out the X and Captain Roth on crutches. The X was carrying a large cooler and had a couple of bags slung over her shoulder.

“Kate! Jim! Good morning,” Swain said.

“Hi, X. Are you coming too?” Dutchy asked.

“Sorry, guys, but as you can see,” the X indicated her fatigues, “I am going on duty in half an hour. I’m just dropping off Jim, and more importantly the beer,”

She indicated the cooler she was lugging, while Captain Roth hopped along on his crutches, grimacing. He too collapsed onto the soft cushions of the open boat deck with a groan.

“I think I should have rethought the whole fishing trip three days after I was let out of hospital,” he groaned.

“We can be the miserable convalescents while Swain here is the smiling one,” Dutchy offered.

“This boat is huge. Will you be alright piloting it on your own?” the X asked Swain doubtfully.

“Well, it seems I’m to have a deckie,” Swain said. “General Damon called me this morning, told me his son is here to visit him at the moment, and since the boat turned out to be so large, offered his services,”

“Really?” Captain Roth asked. 

Dutchy looked over at him, surprised. The tone of voice had been – off.

“Does he know anything about sailing?” the X asked.

“Apparently not. But the boss wangled an invitation, if that’s alright with you, Dutchy,” Swain said.

“The boss is coming? Has he got shore leave?”

“Six hour pass,” the X confirmed.

“Sounds good. At least there will be two people fishing,” Dutchy said. 

“You aren’t going to put a pole out?” she asked.

“Dutchy and I aren’t even walking wounded. And these seats are comfy, Kate,” Captain Roth said, grinning.

“Oh, well. I have to get going. Have fun, and don’t overdo it,” she quickly pecked Captain Roth on the lips and left, waving.

They watched her walk briskly along the pier toward the naval harbor. Then Swain dragged the cooler nearer and examined it.

“Imported! Nice. And a selection of sandwiches. Homemade, Jim, you lucky bastard. What is it with women and wanting to feed their men all the time? Sally made me a huge ration pack, and Chloe baked muffins, which you are all going to eat and if I hear one complaint about my baby’s baking, I’ll use you as bait,”

“That bad?” Dutchy asked.

“Rock solid,” Swain said.

“I can’t wait,”

Another car drew up, and disgorged the boss in his ratty fishing shirt, carrying a pole. On the other side, a young redhead got out.

“Morning, lads,” the boss shouted, making his way lightly down to the boat. “What a monstrously large vessel. Is your father taking us for a ride again?” he asked the young man.

“Not that I’m aware of. He probably just told his assistant to get a nice ship,”

“Morning, boss,” Dutchy and Swain said together.

“Mike! Morning. Is this our deckhand?” Captain Roth called.

“Gentlemen, this is General Damon’s son Marmaduke. And here we have Jim Roth, Chris Blake and Dylan Mulholland,”

“Hi,” the redhead said cheerily. “Good to meet you all. I have to admit, I know nothing about sailing,”

Swain and Captain Roth both giggled. 

“Er. Yes. Good to see you. I’m generally called Dutchy,” he introduced himself. 

Marmaduke came over to shake his hand, and went on to shake hands with the others.

“Well, I may have no idea how to start this boat, but I can clear up this stuff. Is there a kitchen on this thing? I can put all this stuff somewhere cool,”

“That’s great, Marmaduke,” the boss said. 

Marmaduke grabbed the cooler and vanished into the cabin.

“What do you mean, take for a ride?” Dutchy asked as soon as the young man had gone.

“General Damon is a bit of a joker. He made me drink a hazelnut coffee and gave Swain here a pistachio coffee. Mike drank a vanilla latte,”

“He made you drink froufrou coffee?” Dutchy spluttered.

“These two had it worse. Bill made them try his whole sirup bar,” Mike put in. “By the time I went over for a visit, there were about ten undrunk cups of coffee littered around the table,” Mike sniggered. “His assistant spent twenty minutes washing up the cups after the two of you left yesterday. I got a regular cup after that, but you have no idea what the Intelligence Officers had to drink,”

“Well, if we are all here, shall we?” Swain asked. “Still up for Fitzcairn Island?”

“Sounds great, Swain,” Mike said. “Just let me stow my pole, and I’ll cast off if you want to steer,”

“Oh yeah,” Swain said, grinning, and vanished up the stairs to the upper boat deck and the wheelhouse.

Dutchy twitched in his seat, getting up and limping over to help. 

“Stay seated, Dutchy,” the boss advised. “I’ve got this,” He cast off the ropes and the large boat slowly moved away from the pier.

The redhead bounced back out of the cabin, carrying water bottles and glasses. “This is awesome. We are off! Thanks for allowing me here, guys. Drink?”

“Thank you. Marmaduke,” Captain Roth said.

Dutchy glanced around. His voice sounded off.

“Oh, please call me Megabyte. Please,” the redhead grinned.

He handed a glass of water over and held another one out to Dutchy. Dutchy took it.

“Megabyte?” The name sounded familiar, and he tried to remember where he had heard it before.

“With a name like Marmaduke?” the redhead asked. 

“You may have a point,” Dutchy admitted. 

Mike coiled the ropes and stowed them, then wandered over to the ladder leading up to the upper deck and climbed up.

“How do you tell where you are on boats like this?” Megabyte asked.

“There’s a GPS attached to the steering wheel,” Dutchy said. 

“A GPS? How accurate is it?” Megabyte asked.

“Well, commercial GPS is accurate within five to ten metres. Why?”

“Well, it’s not like this is on land where you have accurate maps, is it?” Megabyte asked with a sunny smile. “How do you tell if   
you get to a certain point?”

“Are you looking for point X on the map?” Dutchy asked, grinning.

“Something like that. But I guess we aren’t there yet,” Megabyte gave him another grin and walked back into the cabin.

“What was that about?” Dutchy asked Captain Roth.

“He is looking for the X marking the spot,” Captain Roth answered, straight faced.

“Haha,”

A comfortable silence descended. Captain Roth swung his legs up onto the cushions and then let himself fall back, pushing his hat over his face.

“I’ll catch a few while we get out to the island,” he announced and then relaxed.

Dutchy watched him for a bit, then tipped his own head back. It was faintly troubling, just sitting there doing nothing. From the inside cabin, he could hear whistling. It was warm, a gentle breeze played with his hair. He closed his eyes and decided to copy the captain.


	7. Mike

“Do you want one of these muffins, Commander Flynn?” Marmaduke asked.

Mike looked around to see their deckhand with a tray of little sandwiches and muffins as well as some water and juice in his hands.

“Oh, thanks. And do call me Mike,” he said, staring at the little greyish cakes.

“Chloe made those,” Swain said from his place at the steering wheel.

“Well, in that case,” Mike allowed, and took one. Marmaduke balanced the tray on the cockpit and offered Swain a glass of water.

“Thanks, mate,” Swain said.

Mike chewed, finally managing to swallow. “Very chocolatey,” he finally managed.

“Thanks, Mike, I’ll be sure to tell her,” Swain said.

“Another one?” Marmaduke offered.

“There seem to be certain character traits you have inherited from your father,” Mike observed.

Marmaduke laughed, Swain joining in. “They are horrible, aren’t they. But Chloe was so proud of them I just can’t disappoint her. Also Sally said I had to eat them,” Swain offered.

Mike laughed and grabbed a bottle of orange juice to chase the taste away.

“After drinking a vanilla latte, eating the honest attempt of a muffin by a preschooler cannot shock me anymore,”

“Really? I brought Dad a bottle of pumpkin spice sirup as a present. I’m sure he can’t wait to share it with his friends,” Marmaduke said, po-faced.

Swain nearly doubled over laughing, then waved at one of the dive RHIBs on the water and corrected his course to bypass it with a deal of leeway.

“Do you have to dodge all of these little boats?” Marmaduke asked.

“Yeah. See those flags they are flying? It means they have divers in the water. We don’t want to drive over anybody, so we evade the area. It means we are meandering around the bay a bit, but there you go,” Swain told him.

“Wow. Is this our course here?” Marmaduke asked, looking at the hightec equipment showing their course on the monitor.

“That’s right. Here you can see our exact location showing up. See, we have to go around here, and then we can steer back onto this course here which takes us out of the bay and around the headland,”

“It’s actually quite quick, isn’t it?” Marmaduke said.

“It is a nice boat,” Swain allowed.

“It is an amazing view. Look at all those boats parked at the jetty,” Marmaduke said.

Mike and Swain shared an amused glance. “Moored, not parked,” Mike said.

“Really? Oops. So which of these things is the Hammery?”

“You mean the Hammersley? The large grey one over there,” Mike said, pointing back to the harbor.

“My dad said you can watch through the satellite from your bridge. Can all boats do that? Like a sort of television satnav?”

“Nah. The EOD is defence equipment,” Mike answered. 

“Weird, to think all your shipmates are probably watching you right now,” Marmaduke said. “Do you think they are jealous? Do you want to wave at them?”

Mike laughed. “That would be an irreverent use of the EOD.”

The GPS set up an alert. Mike glanced over. A waypoint had been programmed into the course.

“You are being thorough,” he said to Swain.

“Well. I thought I would keep my hand in. Waypoint coming up in five,”

Marmaduke nodded and clattered down the ladder.

“Is this for the benefit of the kid?” Mike asked. “I don’t think he is that interested in crewing boats, to be honest,”

“Sort of. We won’t be passing this point this evening,”

“We won’t?” Mike asked, surprised.

“No. The dive boat will be right on it,” Swain said.

Mike looked up to check the trajectory of the boats, and reminded himself of the search grid.

“You’re right. Good spot,” he complimented.

“I feel like I’ve gone mad, boss,” Swain suddenly burst out.

Mike narrowly managed to swallow a tasty sandwich instead of aspirating it. “Swaino, are you ok?”

“The whole situation is mad. Here we are, in a big ass boat, the latest luxury yacht, steaming out to a waypoint in a bid to make sure those damn cases are found, with an elaborate plot in place so that absolutely no one knows what the other is doing. I wonder if Madeleine Cruise knew what she was up against,”

“What?” Mike asked. “Chris, has something happened?”

Swain closed his eyes and dropped his head. “I think I need a moment. And how convenient I have a panic attack right over the waypoint,” he said, a trifle bitterly. He stopped the motor and put it in reverse, which made the yacht slowly turn around on the spot.

Mike put a hand on his shoulder. “Chris?”

Swain took a deep breath, then sighed. “Well. Let’s get on with it, shall we?”

“I’m sorry, Swain, I don’t understand. Do you need to go back to base? We can still call a doctor,”

Swain threw him a confused look. “I’m fine, boss. You do know what’s going on, don’t you?”

“No, I –“ Mike dearly wanted to start shouting, but at that moment, the radio crackled.

“Gold Star, this is Australian Warship Hammersley calling you on VHS channel 16. Come in please,” Ro’s voice came over the radio.

Mike picked up the receiver. “Hammersley, this is Gold Star. What’s up, Ro?”

“Boss, X. Why have you stopped? Everything alright?” Kate’s voice came over the radio.

“I think so. You tracking us on the EOD?” Mike asked.

“It’s been playing up all morning. Apparently the signal to the satellite is disturbed. It went down a couple of minutes ago.”

“Oh. Do you need me to come in?”

“No, sir, you enjoy the shore leave. We just wanted to check in with you when Charge spotted the boat stopping,” 

“Swain stopped for a minute,” Mike reported.

“Slight headache, sir, just a quick flash. My brain is still healing,” Swain said casually.

“Swain says he had to stop piloting for a second to get over a headache,” Mike reported, and stared hard at his Cox’n.

“Is he well? Do you need to come back?” 

“I’m fine. Just need a minute,” Swain said.

“Right. It seems we are fine, X. Can you keep me updated on the EOD?”

“Sure boss. Hammersley out,”

Mike placed the receiver back onto the radio and turned to Swain. “Do you have a headache?”

“No. I’m fine, boss,”

“Your behavior is starting to concern me,”

“No need,” Swain sighed. “We can get this over with now,”

He walked over to the ladder and leaned over. “Megabyte! Waypoint!”

“Megabyte?” Mike asked confusedly.

Marmaduke scrambled up the ladder. “Does waypoint mean what I think it means?” he asked.

“Yes. Get going, I want to get to Fitzroy Island and do some fishing and forget any of this ever happened,” Swain said.

“What is going on!” Mike barked. From below he heard Dutchy exclaim loudly, and barreled for the ladder. He rudely pushed past the young redhead to find Dutchy standing in the middle of the deck confronting a young woman.

“Where did you come from?” he demanded, approaching from the side. He saw Jim propping himself up on his elbows from where he had been seemingly sleeping, curiously unalarmed.

“London,” the young woman said calmly and looked around. “This is pretty,”

“This is Ami,” Marmaduke said from behind him, and Mike swung around. 

“Marmaduke! Warn us next time before you stash lady friends on board. Where did you hide her?” he demanded, amused despite himself.

“Oh, no. I just popped in right this minute. Is this the place?”

“As ordered,” Swain said.

Mike whipped around. “You knew she was here? What is this? Are you some sort of spook? Swain! Explain,”

“General Damon asked us to go fishing and on the way stop at this spot,” Jim said from his cushions. He still looked relaxed.

“What?” Mike managed.

“I’ll go get the stuff,” Ami said, and vanished into the cabin.

“I’ll give you a hand,” Marmaduke brushed past Dutchy and walked after her.

“Boss?” Dutchy asked.

“You didn’t know about this, Dutchy?” Mike asked, feeling considerably better.

“No,” Dutchy said a trifle grimly. “Or actually, I thought it was odd rambling in the pub,”

“Sorry, boss, I thought the general briefed you yesterday,” Swain added.

“No. He did not,”

Ami and Marmaduke came back out again, and each was carrying, Mike rubbed a hand over his face, a rectangular case with bits of white wiring stuck on them. They quickly went to the stern and dumped them into the water.

“Was that?” Mike managed.

“Those two bloody cases of Caesium,” Swain said. “Is it finally over?”

“It’s not over until the fat lady sings,” Marmaduke intoned solemnly. 

“Megabyte! It is. Thank you for your help,” Ami said. Then she was gone.

“Where did – what – where is she?” Dutchy nearly screamed.

“Back to London, to get some sleep. It’s really late there, and she has to get up early,” Marmaduke said. “How about we start the boat again and carry on? Somebody might get suspicious,”

Swain turned around and went up the ladder. Seconds later, the boat roared into life and started moving around and back in the direction of the open sea.

Mike slowly surveyed Jim, still lying on the cushions, Dutchy with his fists clenched and Marmaduke giving him a little smile. “I want an answer,” he said coldly.

To his surprise, it was Jim who gave him one. “Those hallucinations Swain and I had. They weren’t,”

“What hall- wait. A fat English bloke named Kevin and a dog were on the boat that exploded?”

“Yes. Kevin stopped the timer,”

“No, Jim, Ro did that from the bridge of the Hammersley,” Mike said slowly.

“Well, yes he did, but he kept popping in to see me and Swain. And Ami dived after the two cases of Caesium and took them away as soon as Swain had dumped them overboard. And the whole lot waited until we were safely off before letting the rest of the timer run down,” Jim finished.

“The whole lot?” 

“Including the dog,” Jim said.

“Of course. The dog. And how does General Damon fit into all this?”

“Since his department was asked by the Australian government to secure the Caesium, we thought we should put it back,” Marmaduke said from behind him.

“And if he hadn’t been?” 

“Adam would have dropped them on a beach around here and arranged for somebody to find them in good time,”

“Who is Adam?” Mike asked.

“We know him as Robert,” Jim put in.

“Robert is in on this?” Mike asked, flabbergasted.

“Yes. On the plus side, he saved our bacon,” Jim said calmly.

“How can you just lie there on those bloody cushions, when, when,” Mike started, frustration and anger boiling over.

“I’ve been shafted by my own superior, assisted a terrorist in assembling a network of unscrupulous people and then had to defuse a dirty bomb knowing I wasn’t going to survive the experience and only could reduce the fallout. And I got out of it with a broken leg and a suspension. I’m way past getting upset about anything,” Jim said calmly.

“But –“ 

“Mike. They helped stop that thing. And now they are returning the radioactive material. I don’t think they are necessarily on my side, but I sure as hell would rather be on their side than Madeleine Cruise’s,”

“That’s nice, but we don’t want to be a side,” Megabyte said, coming back out with a number of beer bottles. “You look like you need a drink. I know it’s early, but you are on holiday,”

He thrust a bottle at Mike, who took it automatically, and passed another to Dutchy. He threw another one toward Jim, who caught it, and then clambered up the ladder to Swain.

Mike stared at his bottle, then twisted off the cap and sat heavily next to Jim.

“Are you really ok with this? With this, this-“

“Teleportation. I have to be, don’t I?” Jim said.

“So how many people in the Intelligence know about this?” Mike asked, taking a sip of beer and trying to calm down.

“I have no idea,”

“And are you going to tell?”

“Nah,” Jim took a swallow out of his own bottle.

“Why not?” Dutchy asked, amazed. He hadn’t opened his bottle, but was holding it covetously.

Jim just smiled.

Mike sighed. “I’m going to have a word with Swain,”

The wheelhouse only contained Swain, calmly steering the boat out of the bay toward Fitzroy Island.

“Where is he?” Mike asked.

“He teleported away. He says he’ll be back, apparently Lisa’s mum made us some brownies,”

“And who is Lisa?” 

“The other American girl. Sorry, boss, I really thought you knew about it all. I thought General Damon had filled you in,”

“You have great faith in my calmness in the face of improbable stories,” Mike said. 

Swain smiled. “I do, boss,”

“But I didn’t know. You couldn’t have hinted before?”

“I signed a few papers yesterday,” Swain offered.

“What, there’s an official secrets Act on this?”

“I think it’s more the General protecting them. Which is fair enough,”

“So, what can you tell me?” 

“Talk to Robert,”

“This is not helpful, Swain,”

“But it is the only thing I can tell you. Sorry,”

“I’m going to kill Bill Damon,”

Swain sniggered, putting up a lazy leg onto the console and leaning back in the plush steering seat. “I have a better idea. Make him drink a pistachio coffee,”


	8. Dutchy

The reef around Fitzroy Island was serene and pretty, and the act of holding a pole in the water seemed to calm down the boss considerably. Swain was beside him, happily casting his fly, and even Jim held a pole. Dutchy was annoyed. For the duration of the voyage, his arm was strapped into a sling in case he pulled any stitches, and with only one arm, fishing lost much of its appeal. So he sat and watched, occasionally sipping his water and enviously watching the beer in Swain’s hand.  
At his side stood the portable radio, which he was manning since he was little good for anything else. Another one!” the boss called, pulling out a decent sized fish.

“That’s five! Come on, Jim, keep up!” Swain called happily.

“Not a problem, here’s my fish! Oh,” Captain Roth pulled out a fish no longer than his hand. “Oops. Right, ok. I guess you win this round, Mike,”

He was answered by a long growl from Mike’s stomach, which caused Mike and Jim to collapse into laughter.

“It’s gone past one, no wonder I’m hungry” Mike said. “Probably time to break out the sandwiches,”

“Should we be concerned that our so-called deckhand hasn’t been back since he left a couple of hours ago?” Dutchy asked, after checking the time himself.

“Really? He isn’t back?” Jim asked, hauling in his line and stowing the pole on the floor.

“No. Unless he’s in the cabin somewhere,”

“Do you think we should call anybody?” Swain asked. “It is a couple of hours,”

“Hah. Who would we call? And say what?”

“We could call the general,” Jim offered.

“Or do something I’ve been meaning to do. Call Robert,” Mike said, his brow going slightly thunderous.

“Do you really think he’s going to talk about this, boss?” Dutchy asked.

“He probably will. He seemed pretty ok with telling us in the pub,” Jim offered.

“Only one way to find out,” the boss said, drawing out his mobile and punching in the number.

An interested silence descended as the men all waited for the connection to form. Mike glanced at them all and then quickly moved his finger over the screen. The ringing noise turned louder, then abruptly stopped.

“Robert Dixon,” a tinny voice emitted.

“Robert. Mike Flynn. Our deckhand Marmaduke has been missing for a couple of hours now, we wondered if you knew where he was?”

There was a moment of silence. “Texas,” finally and tersely came back.

“I really want a word with you, Robert,” the boss said.

“Alright,” Robert answered back. The phone was disconnected.

“He hung up on me,” the boss said incredulously.

“Phone conversations firstly are not secure and secondly cannot replace personal interaction,” Robert said from above them.

They jerked around, to find him leaning over the deck railings above them.

“Robert,” the boss said ominously.

“You wanted a word, sir?”

“I do not like being taken for a fool,” 

“Who did that?” Robert asked, walking toward the ladder and clambering down to the lower deck. “Good afternoon everybody,”

“You did,” the boss said coldly. “You had the Caesium all the time. You could have handed it over easily,”

“We had to maintain a plausible narrative. Just dumping the two cases at the nearest police station would have meant too many questions,”

“Instead over a hundred personnel are scouring the bay at great expense,” 

Robert snorted. “It’s mostly the intelligence units. Work is good for the soul,”

“Ro, can you just give us a little background here?” Swain asked. 

“Background? I can try,”

“Right,” the boss drew himself up. “Since when have you been working for General Damon?” 

“General D? I’ve never worked for him. He just happens to be Megabyte’s father. We make use of his connections now and again,” Robert moved over to the cushy seats and dropped into one, leaning back. “These are nice,”

“And did you make use this time? Who knows about you?”

“We try to keep a lid on our abilities. It’s gotten less, but we used to get kidnapped and experimented on a lot,” Robert said calmly, but Dutchy saw how his hand clenched into the railing.

The boss must have seen it too because his next word were more gentle. “You were born like this?”

“With the latent ability. I broke out when I was fifteen. I met the others then,”

“Ami and Megabyte,” Swain supplied.

“No. Lisa first, then Kevin. Megabyte didn’t break out for some time, and Ami broke out a year after that. Jade is the youngest of us,”

“And why do they call you Adam?” Captain Roth asked. “I checked. Robert Dixon is your name. You aren’t in protection or had your name changed. There’s school transcripts and stuff until you are fourteen. You were reported missing by your school in the middle of the school year, and only taken off the missing person’s list when you apply to the navy. With a recommendation by a General Damon,”

“Aha,” Robert said a little blankly. “I thought those records were tightly sealed. I called myself Adam in London. That’s how they know me,”

“Who did you live with in London?” Dutchy asked.

“Lived with?” Robert asked, a patent nonunderstanding Robert look on his face.

Dutchy glanced around, at the intent faces of Captain Roth and the boss, but the look on Swain’s face stopped him short. He had seen that face so many times before, when Swain had had to bandage up a kid or hold somebody while they cried. The knowledge that the person was hurting and unable to help or take the pain away.

“You were fifteen. That’s too young to be on your own,” Mike said.

Robert shrugged. “I had a place. And I wasn’t on my own, the others were there,”

Dutchy sat back down on the seat, too, deciding he had enough of standing.

“This is the first time you’ve ever used your abilities on the Hammersely, isn’t it,” he said.

“Yes,”

“Why?”

“Too many people might have seen. As it was, you all saw. And quite frankly, this is the first time something of this magnitude had to be managed,”

“You ration your interventions?” the boss asked, quirking a smile despite his still thunderous expression.

“Sure,”

“And if you hadn’t intervened, what then?” Swain asked.

“You would probably have managed to get the Caesium separated from the Semtex, but not had enough time to get off the boat,” Robert said softly.

“Thank you, Ro,” Swain said.

“Pleasure. Is there anything else?”

They all looked at the boss, who sighed and threw up his arms. “Ok. Fine. Where is our deckhand? Is he coming back?”

Megabyte appeared sitting next to Robert. “Hi! Sorry it took so long. I went to a nightclub with Lisa. It was stand-up open mic,”

“You didn’t,” Robert groaned.

“I did! But they didn’t like me,”

“That’s because your jokes stink!”

“How would you know? You don’t joke,”

“Just because I can’t do jokes doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate them myself,”

“I still maintain you are unable to appreciate my humour level,”

“A failing I share with 90% of the human population,”

“Excuse us,” Captain Roth broke in. Both heads whipped around to look at him.

“Can we just establish a few things?” he asked.

“Go ahead,” Robert said, face back to neutral, all bickering gone.

“I take it you don’t do covert ops,” 

Both snorted. “No way,”

“Your abilities would be useful to your countries,” 

“They already are in service to our countries. I help keep the peace on the sea, Megabyte works for the UN, Ami researches in a medical lab, Kevin keeps animals healthy, Lisa teaches at school. And Jade is going to be an excellent astronomer,”

“But the rest of it?” Mike asked.

“Might be abused by people like Madeleine Cruise,”

“Look, commander, we weren’t even legal yet before the first unscrupulous lot of government agents tried to use us for their own ends. They chased us, killed three of us, the only reason we got away was because my dad stepped in,” Megabyte interjected. 

Dutchy swallowed past the instinctive urge to argue that they should help, needed to help. 

“You could make a difference out there,” Captain Roth said slowly. 

“We already do. Just not in counterterrorism,” Megabyte said and grinned.

“In what then?” the boss asked.

“Global threats, usually,”

“And what is a global threat?” Dutchy asked.

“Pandemics, alien invasions, stuff like that,”

“Alien invasions?” Swain asked.

“Intelligent spores. Very nasty,” Robert answered.

“When was this?” the boss asked.

“Years ago, don’t worry,”

“How many years?”

“There was a meteorite shower in England, did you read about it? Actually, the general was on site trying to collect them. You could ask him,” Robert offered. 

“I will,” Mike said.

“Well. Now that is settled, can I go?” Robert asked.

“Very well,” the boss sighed. 

Robert vanished, leaving Megabyte sitting on the seat.

“Try to sort it out, please guys. He likes it on the Hammersley, it would be a shame if he had to leave,” Megabyte said softly.

“Would he?” Captain Roth asked.

“We have the whole world to vanish into. If he has to, he would. But he thinks of the Hammersley as home, and he finally has friends who aren’t us,” Megabyte scratched his hair. “We knew you would get the Caesium free in time. By our own code of conduct, we could have blocked the timer signal without being on the boat. But Adam felt he had to make sure you survived,” he said softly to Swain.

“I didn’t know he liked me,” Swain said uncomfortably.

“We do have a pretty difficult time verbalizing friendships to non-TPs. Since we share thoughts among ourselves, it’s not necessary between us, so social skills can wither,”

“Them I’m glad I was with Swain here,” Captain Roth said bemusedly, looking a little green.

“Er. Actually you were on the help list too. A favour for somebody called X?”

“Right,”

“The X asked Ro to help Jim?” Swain asked.

“No. He just didn’t want her to lose him. He likes her,” Megabyte said, and shrugged his shoulders. 

Captain Roth actually giggled at that. “I knew that. He came and did the if you hurt her speech,”

Megabyte grinned. “We can maroon you naked and painted blue on the mast in front of NavCom, you know,”

“Noted,”

Megabyte grinned sunnily. “Anyway. Are you going back Cairns?”


	9. Mike

Mike walked through the door held open by Jenkins into General Damon’s office and took off his hat.

“Bill,” he said.

“Goodness Mike, you must have changed like lightning. The Gold Star can’t have docked more than 30 minutes ago,”

“Keen to hear any news,” Mike said. 

“Well, glad to see you. Come in. Coffee? Jenkins, do we have any clean cups left?”

“Plain, please. Megabyte told us about pumpkin spice, and it sounds like something to be avoided,”

Jenkins was unable to contain a snigger, as he found a tray and started piling dirty cups onto it. “You need not fear, sir. There was a meeting today, and the bottle of sirup was entirely used up,”

Mike shook his head and watched the man walk out again. Bill Damon waved him toward a chair and got up from his desk.

“You probably want to know about the Tomorrow People,”

“You knew about them,”

“My son is one. The truth of the matter is, I was, many years ago, tasked with finding children who suddenly teleported, in the interest of national security. It seemed benign, but wasn’t. Once the full plot was revealed, I sunk all knowledge of them into my department, my eyes only,”

“You recommended Robert into the navy,”

“From the age of fourteen he had no records. No formal schooling, not even a certificate. Not even a name. I know him as Adam Newman. It took a lot of digging to find Robert Dixon,” the general placed a mug of coffee in front of Mike, which carried the cheery message of ‘World’s best Granddad’.

“He didn’t tell you?” 

“I don’t think he remembered himself. Efforts to find him seem to have been restricted to placing him on a missing persons list. There are a lot of sick people in this world, Mike, and disadvantaged teens are easy targets,”

“I know little about Robert. About the only thing is that his father is dead,”

“Yes. Aspirated his own vomit, developed bacterial pneumonia and died,”

“Good lord!”

Bill snorted, clearly unmoved by the horrific picture. “I tweaked his records and set him up for a stint in the navy. I thought it might do him good, and he seems to have found his calling. He enjoys his work. And it allows him to form social bonds outside his group,”

Mike took a sip of his coffee. “You act like you are his father,” he said after a moment.

“He’s a good lad. And you are right. My behavior was a bit obvious,”

“What’s more, he accepts it,”

“I reckon I was the first positive male figure in his life. Since Megabyte is his best friend, and they share a lot of their thoughts, Megabyte’s feelings became mixed up in Adam’s response to me. He also feels very warmly towards Mrs Davies and Mrs Jackson. Those are the mothers of Lisa and Ami,”

“What now?”

“Well, I hope you can continue to work with him and trust him. You should know he has your back, Mike,”

“I’ll try. Which doesn’t mean I appreciate all this cloak and dagger stiff about the Caesium. You forced one of my crew to undertake a ridiculous trip,”

“I apologize. It seemed expedient,”

There was a thunderous knock on the door, and Jenkins burst in.

“Sir! The two cases have been found!”

“Wonderful. Finally. Where, Jenkins?”

“Just off one of the currents. The hypothesis that they got swept along turned out to be true,”

“Well, it’s lucky they didn’t get swept out to sea. Good work!” General Damon said heartily. “Get me Commander White, would you Jenkins? And call a meeting, at NavCom if she wants,”

Mike watched a quietly jubilant crowd of people sweep into the office.

“Well. Looks like we will be off your hands, Mike, and your ship free once more,”

“Looks like,” Mike said slowly.

“So. Any of your crew posting off your ship in the aftermath of this?” Bill asked. 

“No, Bill. To my knowledge they are all staying on,” Mike said, and gave him a nod.


End file.
